On Saturday evening, tensions ran high between FC Cincinnati and Columbus Crew as their players nearly came to physical altercations in the tunnel heading to their locker rooms.

A video circulating on social media captured the intense scene as coaches, security personnel, and police officers in uniform stepped in to separate the rival Major League Soccer teams, working to calm a situation that had boiled over following Columbus Crew’s narrow 2-1 victory over Cincinnati.

The conflict originated late in the game when Cincinnati midfielder Gerardo Valenzuela executed an aggressive move against Crew forward Taha Habroune, causing him to fall dramatically to the ground.

The foul led to players from both squads getting into a scuffle on the field, and Valenzuela was eventually assessed a red card for violent conduct. 

However, things didn’t calm down much after the final whistle, with Columbus defender Mohamed Farsi and team captain Sean Zawadzki having to be held back by teammates and coaches from running into the visitor tunnel, the Columbus Dispatch reported. 

And then moments later things escalated once again, which led to the scene that was captured by 10TV WBNS reporter Adam King. 

The video showed players from both teams shouting at one another as coaches, security and police stood between them. 

Eventually, cooler heads prevailed as the two clubs went their separate ways. 

“In the tunnel, nothing really happened,” Farsi told the Columbus Dispatch. “It’s not the image that we want to show to young kids who watch us, but at the end of the day we try to protect our players from some vicious play like that, some dangerous plays.”

Crew head coach Laurent Courtois told the outlet that “something stupid happened and then guys got a little bit heated” when describing the whole incident. 

The match was both clubs’ second since the World Cup break came to an end and MLS resumed its regular season. 

A tragic incident unfolded at a Seattle food festival near the iconic Space Needle on Sunday night, culminating in the death of at least two individuals and causing widespread panic as attendees fled for safety.

The chaos erupted around 6 p.m. during the Bite of Seattle, an annual culinary celebration held at Seattle Center. Attendees were startled by the sudden eruption of rapid gunfire.

According to the Seattle Fire Department, the devastating gunfire resulted in two fatalities.

In the aftermath, five additional individuals required immediate medical care. Among them, four were subsequently transported to a nearby hospital for further treatment, including a toddler aged two, a young man of 23, and two adult women.

Hospital officials reported that one of the women remains in critical condition and is currently undergoing surgery at Harborview Medical Center.

Two people were in custody in connection with the shooting, according to Seattle’s NPR news station. Their identities were not released. 

A livestreamed video from the scene showed how the festival descended into chaos.

It started with a man from Hawaiian Honey Cones showing off his product at the food festival and asking more people to subscribe to his channel when one of his employees tells him, ‘Shooting,’ and ducks behind the counter.

‘Shooting, oh s***,’ the man taking the livestream video replied, as people, including families with young children, started running. 

What appears to be five gunshots could then be heard in the background as the live streamer encouraged others to take cover. 

Meanwhile, people could be seen breaking through a barrier trying to run away.

The video then ends with the live streamer telling his employee to grab the money and get down. 

Paul Skinner, 47, also told the Seattle Times how he had just returned from grabbing drinks for his staff at his Filipino food booth when he heard a series of loud pops.

‘I just heard what sounded like what were some pretty loud fireworks at first,’ he recounted. 

‘Then the energy changed. Mobs of people started flooding back down. I just told our staff to get down.’ 

Kayla Carris, 22, said she was sitting outside the Armory when the shooting occurred, and people started rushing to get inside.

‘Everyone was just throwing stuff and running,’ she told the Seattle Times. ‘Like everyone.’ 

Adya Sengupta was one of those who took shelter inside the Seattle Armory.

She told KING 5 News how Seattle Fudge brought dozens of people into the storefront to shelter inside the event center.

‘Inside the Seattle Armory was crazy, within seconds maybe 60-plus people had flooded the doors inside, all running towards that back corner with Seattle Fudge,’ she said. 

Estan Wakonabo said he and his girlfriend were at the festival waiting in line for a photo booth when he was shoved from behind and he turned to see a rush of people fleeing. 

‘People were hiding, were pushing, people were falling on the ground, baby strollers were falling,’ Wakonabo said, adding that was when he heard gunshots.

‘Once I heard a “pop, pop, pop,” that´s when I knew it was a shooter,’ he said.

After he escorted his girlfriend to safety, he returned to the scene to make photos and saw multiple victims on the ground, Wakonabo said.

Todd Behrends, 59, also told how he saw people jumping and running over others to get away.

One woman fell in the chaos, he said, and someone stepped on her leg.

When Behrends then ran out the exit, he said he saw a woman on the ground and a man in a stretcher. 

Police have now locked down the area as the investigation continues and the FBI responds to the scene.

In the meantime, the Monorail has been shut down for the rest of the night.

The annual festival started in 1982 and draws 350,000 attendees over ‘three days of food, drink, and community celebration,’ according to its website. 

SEATTLE (AP) — A heartbreaking incident unfolded at a Seattle food festival near the iconic Space Needle, where two individuals lost their lives and five others sustained injuries in a shooting on Sunday evening, according to a spokesperson for the city’s fire department.

Authorities are actively investigating the tragic event and have issued a warning for the public to steer clear of the area located just northwest of downtown Seattle.

The shooting incident took place around 6 p.m. at the Seattle Center amidst the bustling Bite of Seattle festival, sending shockwaves through attendees and the community.

Susan Gregg, a representative for Harborview Medical Center, confirmed that their facility received four victims, including a young child, a 23-year-old man, and two adult women.

Gregg noted that one of these patients is currently in critical condition, highlighting the severity of the injuries sustained.

The Seattle Center was hosting the Bite of Seattle food festival over the weekend. A large number of police and emergency crews responded around 6 p.m. and began evacuating the area.

Estan Wakonabo said he and his girlfriend were at the festival waiting in line for a photo booth when he was shoved from behind and he turned to see a rush of people fleeing.

“People were hiding, were pushing, people were falling on the ground, baby strollers were falling,” Wakonabo said, adding that was when he heard gunshots.

“Once I heard a ‘pop, pop, pop,’ that’s when I knew it was a shooter,” he said.

After he escorted his girlfriend to safety, he returned to the scene to make photos and saw multiple victims on the ground, Wakonabo said.

The annual festival started in 1982 and draws 350,000 attendees over “three days of food, drink, and community celebration,” according to its website.

A tragic mass shooting unfolded on Sunday evening at Seattle Center, leaving several individuals injured, as reported by police.

The chaos erupted around 6 p.m. amidst the lively Bite of Seattle food festival, prompting a rapid response from police and emergency services.

“Please avoid the area,” Seattle Police warned on the social media platform X.

As of now, police have not confirmed the apprehension of any suspects related to the incident.

News Media reached out to the Seattle Police Department for additional information.

Kayla Carris, 22, said she was sitting outside the Armory at the Bite of Seattle when people began to scream and run for cover inside the Seattle Center Armory.

“Everyone was just throwing stuff and running,” Carris told The Seattle Times. “Like everyone.”

Todd Behrends, 59, said he heard what appeared to be several rounds of shots.

People began running and jumping over each other to escape, Behrends told the outlet. One woman fell, and someone stepped on her leg.

Behrends said he saw a woman on the ground and a man on a stretcher as he ran toward an exit.

In a remarkable tale of endurance and survival, an emergency room nurse found himself in an extraordinary predicament. During a hiking adventure, he accidentally impaled himself with a trekking pole and incredibly managed to descend 10 miles from Montana’s highest peak for help — all while the pole remained lodged through his body.

David Cifaldi, aged 32, was scaling Granite Peak alongside two companions when the accident occurred. The group had reached an elevation of 11,800 feet on a Monday expedition, when Cifaldi unexpectedly lost his footing and fell onto the pole, as reported by KTMF and a GoFundMe page set up to assist with his medical costs.

“I just slipped on some rocks,” Cifaldi recounted to the news outlet. “It was just kind of a freak thing.”

Upon regaining his composure, Cifaldi realized that the trekking pole had skewered cleanly through his side.

“I think my nurse brain clicked on,” he explained. “Once I assessed the situation and determined it wasn’t immediately life-threatening, I felt sure I could make it off the mountain under my own strength.”

Cifaldi and his pals decided to leave the pole lodged in his body and hike more than 10 miles over rugged terrain — descending over the peak’s boulders and snowfields to reach the trailhead to get help, the outlet reported.

One friend used a satellite communicator to contact local search and rescue while another stayed with Cifaldi to help him navigate the crucial trek.

“David navigated the plateau’s snowfields and boulder fields, made his way down past Mystic Lake, and reached the trailhead entirely under his own power — never once complaining, staying in remarkably high spirits,” Jesse Ross, who was hiking with Cifaldi, wrote in a GoFundMe statement.

“Near Mystic Lake, he even asked one of us to hike ahead and warn other hikers, so no children would have to see the wound,” Ross said.

Cifaldi reached the trailhead after 6-and-a-half hours and was taken to a hospital before being transferred to Intermountain Health in Billings, where the trekking pole was finally removed.

“I feel very lucky,” Cifaldi recalled. “A couple inches the other way, and this would be a different story.”

The nurse is now recovering and hopes to quickly return to helping his patients — but is facing “significant medical bills.”

The fundraiser to raise money for Cifaldi’s medical expenses, including a possible upcoming surgery, has raised over $2,700 of its $10,000 goal.

Although it is one of humanity’s oldest known ailments, its newest sufferers are not who you might expect.

Historically, this excruciating condition was dubbed the ‘disease of kings,’ as it was typically associated with royals indulging in lavish feasts and fine wines.

Nowadays, gout has shed its regal roots and is becoming increasingly prevalent among young adults.

Gout is a type of arthritis marked by intense pain, resulting from the accumulation of uric acid in the bloodstream. Excessive uric acid crystallizes into sharp, needle-like structures that embed themselves in joints—often in the big toe—causing abrupt bouts of agonizing pain, swelling, and redness.

Recent decades have seen a more than 20 percent increase in cases among individuals aged 10 to 24, with experts predicting a 70 percent rise in the global impact of gout by 2050, according to a study released in 2024.

One growing theory points to the modern American diet and the rising popularity of the carnivore diet, which has exploded on social media, attracting young men seeking weight loss and performance gains.

With ‘What I eat in a day’ and ‘Before and after’ videos under the #carnivorediet hashtag racking up hundreds of millions of views on social media, the meal plan has never been more buzzy. 

And red meat has never been a more common feature on the American plate. Meat sales hit a record $112 billion in 2025, driven largely by Millennials and Gen Z.

However, there’s a downside. Red meat is rich in purines – compounds that break down into uric acid, the substance that crystallizes in joints and triggers gout’s searing pain, rendering sufferers immobile. 

‘I would call [the link between the carnivore diet and gout] a reasonable concern,’ Dr Mike Daniels, a Maryland-based podiatrist, told the Daily Mail. ‘Lately, it seems like I’m seeing more young men with gout, and I do think meat-heavy diets can be part of the story.’ 

Normally, the body filters out uric acid through the kidneys, but when levels get too high, the excess gathers in the joints, triggering sudden inflammation and pain, the hallmark of a gout attack.

The same excess uric acid that triggers gout can also form crystals in the kidneys, where they can cluster into stones. These stones can cause agonizing pain, nausea, and difficulty urinating as they pass through the urinary tract.

‘There exists case-based evidence that has raised red flags about increased uric acid and kidney stone risk after switching to all-meat-eating diets,’ Daniels added. 

Gout cases have more than doubled globally since 1990, from roughly 22 million to 55.8 million in 2020, according to that same 2024 study published in the Lancet Rheumatology. 

The US saw a sharper rise, with cases surging 76.6 percent during that period. 

And it’s young men bearing the brunt. They are more than four times as likely to have gout as young women, and the gap is widening. The latest data from 2025 also found that wealthier countries have the highest rates, with the US and Canada topping the list, according to Global Burden of Disease data published in 2025.

Males with gout are more likely to have diets high in seafood, beef, pork and alcohol, that study said. 

Just as the incidence of gout continues to rise, so too is the American appetite for meat.

The meat industry had a record year in 2025, reaching $111.9 billion in sales.  Beef led the way with $45 billion, and Millennials and Gen Z drove much of the growth.

Nearly 80 percent of shoppers now believe meat is part of a healthy diet, up sharply since 2020, and 45 percent are actively trying to prepare more meals with meat or poultry.

Along with social media platforms, online forums and comment sections are full of threads in which carnivore diet devotees discuss their experiences with gout flare-ups and how to avoid them.

One Reddit user said: ‘I did a few years ago, went full carnivore with frequent organ meats etc. Felt amazing for the first week and then had [the worst] gout attack I’ve ever had.

‘Usually it attacks one joint, but this attack got both knees, both wrists and even the back of my neck. 

‘My rheumatologist suggested it was likely temporary, and if I kept going my body would sort it out, but I wasn’t fully committed to long-term eating like this and decided to stop.’

Another wrote on a separate forum: ‘Love carnivore, but my uric levels increase when on strict Carnivore. Knuckles, feet, ankles, shoulders, knees all hurt.’

A third wrote on Reddit: ‘My dad started carnivore with me about two months ago, and he is getting debilitating gout attacks. We rushed him to the [doctor] now and he’ll get meds.’

‘Maybe it affects everyone differently but starting a carnivore diet is what got me diagnosed with gout,’ a fourth added.

A meta-analysis in 2018 found that red meat consumption is linked to a 29 percent higher risk of gout, and early-onset gout patients – defined as those diagnosed before age 40 – have been shown to consume significantly more red meat than those who develop the condition later in life.  

A 2022 study of 655 gout patients found that early-onset cases differed significantly from later-onset cases. 

Those diagnosed before 40 had higher uric acid levels, were nearly three times more likely to be obese and consumed more red meat; 44 percent ate 101 to 200 grams daily versus 26 percent of later-onset patients. 

Occasional red meat one to two times per week is likely fine for most people, daily consumption, especially in large portions, significantly increases risk.

‘Anybody who has a strong family history of gout, chronic kidney disease (CKD), or poor renal function has a much greater baseline risk,’ Dr Chad Larson, a California-based naturopathic doctor, told the Daily Mail.

‘It is possible that for those individuals, implementing a meat-heavy diet without close monitoring via blood tests would rapidly exacerbate both the development of kidney stones and damage to joints prior to when symptoms occur.’

Up until January 2026, US dietary guidelines recommended replacing foods high in saturated fats, such as red meat, with plant-based foods, without providing a specific weekly red meat limit. 

However, the new 2025-2030 guidelines released by HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr have turned that approach on its head, placing red meat, cheese, and other proteins at the top of a newly inverted food pyramid. 

This shift ‘ends the war on saturated fats,’ in Kennedy’s words and encourages Americans to prioritize protein-rich foods like red meat and full-fat dairy in every meal. 

There is an ever-widening gap between the policies set forth by established medical groups like the American Heart Association and those endorsed by RFK Jr, who has long promoted red meat as a staple of one’s diet.

The AHA rebuffed Trump Administration attempts to upend the food pyramid – literally, by inverting it and placing a big slab of steak and a tray of ground beef at the wider top – by emphasizing more plant-based proteins.

The good news is that gout is preventable. Simple changes, like reducing red meat, cutting back on alcohol and sugary drinks, and drinking plenty of water, can make a significant difference.

‘Diet and lifestyle changes are the first line of defense,’ Daniels said. ‘Gout doesn’t have to be inevitable.’